It was three in the morning by the time Altair made it home with Malik, and Kadar. The youngest of the three had consumed more alcohol than he had ever had in his life, causing Altair to pull over six times on the way back to their complex to expel his guts all over the pavement. Thankfully he had a strong stomach, or he might have lost it as well. The one thing he was grateful for was the boy had the common sense to know when he was about to get sick.
After helping Malik get his brother out of the back seat, he asked. "Need help getting him upstairs?"
The eldest shook his head, and gripped Kadar tighter. Low moans were coming from him as his eyes began to roll. "We're good, and he's going to feel it in the morning, I can guarantee that." The sadistic smile that Malik was famous for curled up his lips, and for the first time, Altair felt a tad bit sorry for the younger Al-Sayf.
So, with a shrug of his shoulders, he walked across the lot to his building. Taking the steps two at a time, he sighed when he made it to his floor. His neighbor was asleep on the ground, once more, a light blanket thrown over his body. Murphy and Valerie had a "strange" relationship. He worked, but worked long hours. She would get pissed for him being gone all the time. They would fight, and he would end up in the hall, or if Altair was home, on his couch.
Pushing the man with his foot, Murphy opened his eyes slightly. "You and Val get into it again?" He asked, but already knew the answer before he nodded. "Come on." Holding out his hand, he pulled his friend to his feet, and they walked to the next door. Producing a key, he unlocked the door, and flipped on the light as they entered. "You know the drill and where everything is."
"Altair, I swear, one day I'm going to make it up to you." Murphy ran his hand down his face.
Waving him off, Altair headed for the kitchen, and grabbed two pops. "Don't worry about it. I'm just gonna have to find that spare key and give it to you. Just in case this happens again when I'm gone." Truthfully, it was happening more frequently. "I see she gave you a blanket this time." Pointing to one wrapped around his shoulders, he handed the other can to him.
Murphy shook his head. "Nope. The new girl gave it to me after she passed me in the hall. Offered to let me take her couch, but I said I would just wait until you got home."
The new girl. Altar rolled his eyes, and plopped down the old recliner he had. The thing had seen better days, but it was comfortable, and the foot rest still worked, so he would hold onto to it for a bit longer. "Good call. Val would have your ass in a sling if she found out you were sleeping at another girl's apartment. She gets pissed when you stay over here half the time."
That got a laugh from him. "Oh believe me I know! I catch hell about it, but if she wasn't such a bitch, I wouldn't have to crash on your couch a few nights a week."
Quirking a brow, he asked seriously. "Why do you stay with her? I mean, you don't have any kids together, and you make enough money to get your own place. Why the hell are you still here?" That was the question of the century. Did the man just like to be abused?
A small shrug, and he laid down. "Don't rightly know, man. I guess, she was my high school sweetheart, and we've been together for six years. That's a long time."
Altair had no clue about long term relationships. The longest he ever had one was with Maria, and it lasted about five months. Come to find out she was just dating him to get her ex off her ass. The bad thing is once they called it quits, she went back to him! He had just about giving up on dating all together. Safer for his sanity that way.
Trying to lighten the mood, he grinned. "Well, while you bask in your issues, I'm gonna shoot some things."
Grabbing the Xbox controller off the table, and turning on the system, he was surprised to see his shooting buddy, DiamondBlade92, online. Normally she wasn't on this late. Going to the right screen, he sent her a message.
Ya wanna play some COD?
Her response was sent back quickly.
Sorry, Eagle, I'm heading to bed. Starting a new job in the morning, and if I'm late… U know how it goes. Maybe tomorrow?
Replying in kind, Sounds good. U R on Pacific Time, right?
It was a minute later before he got her message.
Actually, I moved last week. That's why I haven't been on. Now on Eastern time like you. So, what time works?
Altair blinked at the message. She had moved clear across the country, and was now in his time zone? What the hell? Typing quickly on the small keyboard he had, he sent her the message. I get off at 9. How about 10?
And waiting on baited breath until her response came back. LOL! Works. Get your ego ready to be smashed again, because you are going to be eating bullets, Eagle. Unless you have been getting better. Which I doubt.
Oh she did not just go there. Biting his lip, he watched the letters fill the box quickly. Uh news flash, Diamond, U normally get UR ass handed to you. They normally bantered like that, but both of them were equal to one another.
Whatever! We will settle it later, ass. See ya! And he watched her icon change to offline.
"You can't get a girl in life, but you have an online gamer girl?" Murphy asked with a smirk as he fluffed the worn pillow under his head. "Dude, you so need to find someone." He yawned, and pulled the blanket up higher around his neck.
"I will, in time." Like never. He wasn't interesting in dating. It was too big of a headache. Truthfully, he won't mind trying to one day meet Diamond. They had been online buddies for four years now, and had argued with one another through Call of Duty, but neither one knew anything about the other. That was something he would like to change, if he could.
Deciding he would just wait until later to play, he shut the machine down, and tossed the remote in Murphy's direction, not carrying if it hit him or not. From the grunt, he knew he had. "I'm heading to bed. Lock the door behind you when you leave." And with that, he walked to his room, pulling off his shirt as he went, and fell onto the bed.
The morning came faster that he had hoped, and when is alarm went off, Altair rolled over, grumbling, shutting the offensive alarm off. Cracking an eye open, he groaned even more when he saw it was only ten after ten. His shift at the museum didn't start until noon. The life of a second shift security guard was easy there. Make sure kids find their parents, and get everyone out at closing.
Rolling from the warmth of the bed, he stumbled half asleep into the bathroom to relieve himself. After a quick shower, shave, and scrub a towel over his short cropped hair, he was damn near ready to face the day. Picking up his cell as he walked down the hall in nothing but his boxers, Altair sighed loudly when there were three missed calls from his dad, and a missed text from Becca.
Hitting redial, his dad quickly picked up the phone. 'Thought you lost your phone again.' Umar's rough voice came over the line, causing him to roll his eyes.
"Only did that once, and that's because someone stole it out of the car." Sometimes he hated talking to his dad. The man could always find something to pick about. "And that was like five years ago!"
Blowing off him off, his father got straight to the point of the conversation. 'Your grandmother wanted to know if you were coming home for Christmas this year. You know, since you were MIA the last three holidays.'
Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he leaned against the counter with the phone tucked to his shoulder. "That's like five months away. A bunch of shit could happen between now and then." Like he could be abducted by aliens, so he wouldn't have to deal with his crazy relatives, and their nagging questions. When are you going to move closer to home? When are you going to settle down? When are we going to get great/grandbabies? Being an only child sucked.
'Well? I have to give her an answer when she calls me back. The woman is insufferable!'
The grandmother in question was his mother's mom. Maud had passed away shortly before Altair's first birthday. She had been diagnosed with stage four skin cancer when he was five months old. The chemo won't help her, and his father had raised him since then. The problem was his father was married to his job, and Altair had spent most of his childhood at Umar's parents' house. That's how he met Malik, and later, Kadar.
Knowing if he didn't give the answer they were looking for, Altair would get that dreaded call from Cecelia, and she would guilt trip him into coming. "Fine! Tell her I'll be there. Jeeze! Now get off my back!"
'I'll let her know. And Altair,' there was the dreaded pause, 'are you actually going to bring a date this year?' And thus it began once more.
What a way to ruin the whole rest of the day.